So I guess I think I'm British

Bit of strange news. Looks like I am the ambivalent host of an alter-ego. It appears that deep down some part of me thinks that I am British. Well, part British at least. It stems from my recent fancy of Sophie Kinsella books. She is a best-selling British chick-lit author and I love her! Well, more her work than her. I mentioned awhile back that I have taken to listening to books on CD as a means to make my lengthy commute seem somewhat tolerable. Over the past few months I have listened to six (!) of her books and am just starting another one.

If I were to have simply read her books, I don't think that my I would have developed this quirk; it's the fact that the person reading the book has a British accent that gets to me. Now I often think my thoughts in a British accent, I use words that are British in my everyday conversations and emails and I have been converting prices in US dollars to British pounds (the Shopaholic books talk A LOT about the cost of things!). It's getting to be a little too much! :) I think that this is a sign that I need to start reading/listening to some different material. Next on my list is Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time.

Finished, finally!

I have been almost done with Breaking Dawn for weeks. I have been wanting to read the last 50 or so pages I had left, but things just kept coming up. I finally cleared out enough time to finish it. Now that I have finished the series, I can look forward to the movie coming out.

I was feeling a little curious about the movie, so I started poking around the internet to see what the chatter was all about. I ended up watching about a dozen different previews for the movie on YouTube. Check out a few here. Only a month and half until it's in theatres...I am looking forward to seeing it. I, being the total dork that I am even put it on my calendar. :)

Back to school, kind of

Yesterday was my first day back at school. I decided to take Summer quarter off because I had a lot of stuff going on and couldn't fit school in on top of it. Plus, they didn't offer the classes I really need during the summer. So yesterday I arrived up early to pick up my books, which after waiting in line forever I am told that they don't have and to try back tomorrow...great! I still had a little bit before class started so I went back to my car to listen to the book on CD Confessions of a Shopoholic (it's an OK read/listen). A few minutes before class starts I take off to find my lab room. I only have one class on Monday evenings...Chemistry. When I locate the correct room, there is a guy hanging a sign on the door that says there is no lab tonight, regular schedule resumes tomorrow. What?!? It's great that there is no class, but I'm irked that I had been waiting around for it forever...blah! So I headed home to watch the end of the Will and Grace DVDs that I got from Netflix. I will try the school thing again tonight...

Midnight Sun

I would first like to apologize to all of those that I judged (only slightly) when they told me they were addicted to the Twilight Sage. Vampires, come on!?! :) Thanks to all of the peer pressure, and Molly for lending me all of the books, I now am too a follower. I am almost finished with Breaking Dawn. I have about a fifth left, but I am not finding it very interesting. Maybe it's just the deep denial I am feeling about the series ending...I just don't want to admit it's over?? Yesterday I stumbled onto the greatest thing ever...Midnight Sun. It's supposed to be Twilight told by Edward's point of view instead of Bella's. Stephanie Meyers has 12 chapters of it published on her website. Apparently it is a partial draft that was leaked and posted all over the internet. Due to the breach she is unsure of if she will finish the book or not...I hope she does! I have spent more time than I care to admit reading it at work. It is great to see Twilight through Edward's eyes. Any Twilight fan has got to read this. You can legally read it here for FREE. Enjoy!!

Weekend in Portland

We just returned from spending a couple of days in Portland. The drive down wasn't too bad. I tried to get Rob to play the name game with me (I will have to explain that one in a later post), but he wouldn't give in. Instead he read his LSAT prep book out loud to me and quizzed me on what he had read me. A learning experience for both of us!

Once we arrived the first thing on our agenda was to visit the Oregon Zoo. I felt that it was a little bit of a letdown, Rob thought that a zoo is a zoo, no expectations, no disappointment. They had several exhibits under construction and a lot of the animals were no-shows. It was also so hot! My car said that the temperature got up to 107*! I think that the highlight of the zoo was the birds making out...it really is one of the only pictures we took. How immature, I know...but it was Rob's idea :)

Once we checked in to our hotel we walked over to the Lloyd Center Mall where we people watched and browsed through jewelry magazines over some Cinnabon (Rob's absolute, all time favorite!). When I was younger my Mom and I would played a little game while we looked through the jewelry flyers that would come in the Sunday paper. Page by page we would silently select our favorite piece of jewelery and then share it with each other. Most of the time we would select the same pieces. I try to get Rob to play this game with me, but we just aren't as in sync as my Mom and I. As it turns out, Rob is quite the flashy while I am a little more conservative! We then went and saw the movie Mirrors (NOT my choice). I thought that it was incredibly stupid, but still pretty scary. Rob says he enjoyed it, but I think he just enjoyed watching me gasp and jump throughout the movie. I don't do scary movies well. :)

The next morning we lounged around and watched License to Wed while enjoying a late check out. After grabbing some lunch we headed downtown to do some shopping. I got some great stuff at Anthropologie (one of MY favorites). I definitely could have got some more stuff, but Rob was dying of boredom and blown away by how much I was willing to pay for stuff that I thought would be 'fun' for our house. He just doesn't get it! Then we stopped by Powell's Books. It is a HUGE bookstore that takes up an entire city block. We browsed for an hour or two and left with a bag full of books.

Before heading back home I decided that I wanted to track down the apartments we lived in when I was little (we lived it Portland while my Dad was attending Chiropractic School). It took a little while to find. I kept driving around the block where it was supposed to be, but only saw a couple of smaller complexes. We drove into a complex parking lot and saw a sign that posted the address that we were looking for, but the complex was so small. I have always had a memory of a big apartment complex, but as Rob reminded me, I was only three when we moved, so of course it seemed bigger to me. Even as we drove away I was still amazed that my perception was that off after all of these years. I snapped a couple of pictures to show my family...I thought it would be fun for them to see. It is the one on the bottom left (with the lovely blue drapes). When we lived there the apartments were green. I guess they got a face lift.

On the way home Rob decided to nap a bit, so I popped in the book on CD I had been listening to before the trip (Love the One You're With). About a half an hour or so later I turned it off and Rob startled me by asking me why I turned it off. This whole time I thought he was asleep he was actually listening to the book along with me. He then said that he was into it and wanted to hear what happened. So, for the remainder of the drive home we listened to it together. I was a tad bit embarrassed that he might think this is the kind of book I always read, but oh well...a little chick lit is good for everyone now and then, right?

Glad we went...good times!

Taking advantage of my LONG commute

Although I love to gripe to Rob about the long commute I have to work now that we have moved, there is an upside to it. I have a lot of time in the car and I have been using it to listen to books on tape/cd. While I love to read, I just really don't have much time to do it. I have just finished a book called 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult (one of my favorite authors!) and am starting another book called Joy School by Elizabeth Berg. The voice of the woman that reads it bothers me, so I think that I might have to switch to another book for now. The next one that I have in line is Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. He is known for his lenghtly novels. I have always wanted to read this book, but the thickness of it has put me off. Now that I have nothing better to do, I figure I ought to give it a listen.

What are you reading?

I just finished a wonderful book called Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back. It was so difficult for me to read because it was hard to imagine having to go through the experiences they shared (sexual abuse, drug abuse, living on the streets...). It made me realize how easy I have had it and how blessed I was to have had such a stable and loving home to grow up it. Eventhough the book had some very dark parts, seeing the amazing way they overcame everthing and are living such positive lives really warmed me. I would definitely recommend it...it isn't a light read, but it's absolutely worth it!